I rested under one of the many pines, tall and lively. Unlike my other visits to the forest this one was not all that pointless. I was here for a reason today . I was here to meet a friend, or who was once a friend. His name was-Aven. The last time I had seen him was when we were thirteen. I can still remember him from the dusted album of my memories. He was tall and slender then, with a curved-beaked nose and thin eyes. His colour was pale then, supported by his unnaturally snow-white hair. His figure could easily be mistaken with any kind of ghost from some children stories. But to me, he was the only living person then, most people are just puppets of their wishes and fears. Aren't they? But he..he was lively, cheerful and courageous, and the most important of all, he was caring, to anyone, and especially to me .  A complete opposite of me who was timid, silent and submissive. And yet it is this difference of ours that brought us close. We fought, we argued but were never separated. After all, the two faces of a coin will always coexist. Even his parents considered me as their second child. Everything was so beautiful until that winter.....

I got up. Perhaps to escape the thoughts of my future memories. I started walking again yet I could not prevent my mind from thinking about Aven. I  had noticed Aven's thoughts from his few letters that I received in these seven years. He had changed quite a lot, and like everyone else he is also a mere puppet now, tied to the threads of his own desires and beliefs. Maybe, no man could escape this fate. Not even me.

"Do you still walk alone in search of solitude?" A rather familiar voice asked. Even if I couldn't turn around I would still know who he was. Though there was a slight change in the deepness of the voice it still hadn't changed much. 

It was Aven.

I turned around to meet his familiar face but,  to my surprise, his face wasn't visible. He was sitting at a pine branch, his face covered under a white mask which only provided opening for his thin eyes. He was wearing a black robe from which his feet were dangling in midair.

I wish I could see his face for once. His thirteen year old face was starting to fade away now. Just have a glimpse of it to renew my memories of him.

 "Do you have to wear that even while meeting me?" I asked, preventing the pain in my voice from reaching him. And maybe, it didn't.

"I asked first. So I should be the first to get the answer too.." He declared. I didn't have an answer for his question nor did I want to give one.

"Maybe... " I replied flatly to get over to my question. 

"You haven't changed a bit, have you?" He said while jumping off the branch and landing on the dead leaves below.

"But you did, a lot maybe." I replied with a bitter smile.

"Yeah, I guess so...life tends to change people, you know." He said while walking towards me in a dreamy manner, his slender legs twisting in peculiar ways.

 I clenched my fists. I was angry, not on Aven. I could never be angry with Aven no matter what he did. Even if he kills me, he will still be as important to as now, as ever. It was the world I was angry about. The world that took away the Aven I once knew, the Aven I once loved.....I was angry at myself for letting this happen.

He removed his white mask, revealing his familiar stunningly handsome face but there was one thing that didn't quite fit in my memories. There was a scar on his face. It began from above his right eyebrow, all the way down his right eye. But thankfully, his right was still fine. Those green eyes still had that glitter in them.

" Are you happy now?" He asked with a smile but that was not his smile.

This smile belonged to someone I never knew, someone who pretended to be happy, but from inside he was dying.

"You don't have to do this, Aven, please. We can still go back to living a normal life. Please, please come back with me.." I pleaded.

He laughed at this - a loud, sarcastic laugh.